Books

Sexual violence was rife in the 19th-century US, as Mary Evans discovers

Gwyn Prins on a book he says helps to wreck the chance for a mature debate on climate change

Although we may be unaware of it, a number of powerful preconceptions still dog our understanding of the turbulent history of Czechoslovakia, as Mary Heimann discovered. Matthew Reisz reports

Timely revision of a classic work

To tackle the Earth's problems, we must look at the culture behind them, finds Laurence Coupe

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Simon Rushton on a unorthodox account of how the UN was born

Words and meanings change over time, but this narrative leaves Lynne Segal craving more analysis

The individual phrases of a great poet's work are freighted with significance, says Sophie Read

Laura González on the meanings beneath people's compulsion to capture images of places visited

It's high time Roy Kerr's contribution to theoretical physics was recognised, writes Graham Farmelo

Lots of good sense but too narrow a base leads to author's success and failure, says Bruce Alexander

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Jon Turney on the DNA pioneer's life and long career

A clear account of theories and possibilities but conclusions not so satisfactory, writes David Smail